Bookings, room lines and stays

A booking is the promise of rooms on dates. At check-in each of its rooms becomes a stay, with a real room and a guest folio.

Hospitality Concepts

4 min read

Updated October 20, 2026

For Front desk Manager Night auditor

The booking

A booking (reservation) holds who is coming, when, and what they booked:

the guest (and the company, if a company books);
one or more room lines: a room type, the dates, the rate plan and the number of guests;
the price of every night, from the rate calendar or a manual rate;
the cancellation policy and the deposit due and deposit held;
the source of business, notes, and the billing routing.

A booking is made with New booking on the hub, on Reservations or on the Room rack (on the last two, the key N opens it too). A guest who arrives without one is a walk-in (Walk-in, or W): the same form, saved and checked in at once.

The stay

At check-in each room line of the booking becomes a stay: a real room, the guests who sleep there, and a guest folio. A booking with three rooms has three stays; each one is checked in, moved, extended and checked out on its own.

	Booking	Stay
Starts	When it is saved	At check-in
Has	Room types and dates, price, deposit, policy	A room, its guests, a folio
Money	Deposits are held on the booking	Charges and payments go on the folio
Ends	Checked out, cancelled or no-show	At check-out

Statuses

Booking status	Means
Confirmed	Confirmed; counts against availability
Waitlisted	Wanted, but no room is available
Checked in	At least one room is in house
Checked out	Every room has left
Cancelled	Cancelled, with the policy's penalty if any
No-show	The guest did not arrive; marked at the night audit or from the booking

A stay is In house from check-in until check-out.

The deposit moves to the folio

A deposit is taken on the booking before arrival. At check-in each room takes its share of the deposit onto its guest folio (split by each room's booked value), so the guest's bill already shows what was paid.

Worked example: a two-night stay from booking to invoice

A Deluxe room for two nights at 5,000 a night. The hotel's service charge is 10% and VAT is 13% on the amount plus service charge (the values set up for this example). Each night is 5,000 + 500 + 715 = 6,215; two nights are 12,430. The guest pays a deposit of 5,000 before arriving.

When	What happens	Booking	Folio balance	In Accounting
Before arrival	Take deposit 5,000 on the booking	Confirmed, Deposit held 5,000	No folio yet	A receipt for 5,000
Day 1, check-in	A room is chosen; the stay opens and takes the whole deposit	Checked in	5,000 in credit	Nothing new
Day 1, night audit	Night 1 is posted: 6,215	Checked in	1,215 owed	Nothing
Day 2, night audit	Night 2 is posted: 6,215	Checked in	7,430 owed	Nothing
Day 3, check-out	The guest pays 7,430 in cash; one invoice for 12,430 is issued	Checked out	0	A receipt for 7,430 and the invoice for 12,430

The deposit and the final payment are not printed on the invoice. Both were recorded when they were taken, against the same account, so 5,000 + 7,430 clears the invoice of 12,430 and the account ends at zero. The hotel's revenue is booked when the invoice is issued at check-out, not by the night audit (Run the night audit and close the day, Check out a guest and issue the invoice).

Common questions

A booking has three rooms. Do they check in together?

Not necessarily. Each room line becomes its own stay, with its own room and folio, and is checked in, moved, extended and checked out on its own. The booking shows Checked in as soon as one room is in house and Checked out when every room has left.

Where does the deposit go when the booking becomes a stay?

At check-in each room takes its share of the deposit onto its guest folio, split by each room's booked value, so the bill already shows what was paid.

Can I hold a room for a guest without confirming the booking?

No. A booking cannot be tentative. Confirm the booking, or hold the rooms as a group block with a release date (Group bookings and group check-out).